SHOWTIME AT THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

[Monique Faulkner]

Obama Speech Preview: Focus On Middle Class
The Huffington Post   |   August 27, 2008 09:15 AM



Barack Obama gave the Wall Street Journal a little preview of his Thursday night speech:

Barack Obama said he plans to focus on the struggles of middle-class Americans, including their tax burden, in his Thursday night speech accepting the Democratic nomination for president.

"The single most important thing I have to make clear is the choice we have in November between the same failed policy of the last eight years for the middle class and the new agenda to boost income for Americans and help families who are struggling," he said in a brief interview with The Wall Street Journal Tuesday. "I will make that contrast very clearly."


ABC News has more on Obama's speech-writing process:

Because of the protracted primary season, Obama is playing catch-up a bit. He wrote an outline while on vacation in Hawaii, but didn't get any time for serious work while there with his family.

To prepare, he read the convention acceptance speeches of former Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton, as well as less successful Democratic presidential nominees Vice President Al Gore and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

In addition to laying out his plans and providing some inspiring oratory -- though not as much as in 2004, aides cautioned -- one of the goals of the speech is to argue that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is no maverick, but rather, someone who represents a doubling-down of the current policies of President George W. Bush.


Meanwhile, John McCain staffers are already mocking the stage on which Obama will appear. Reuters reports that it will look like "a miniature Greek temple." ThinkProgress points out that the Virginia Republican Party went for a similar style at their convention this year.


For more Huffington Post coverage from the Democratic National Convention, visit our Politics @ the DNC page, our Democratic Convention Big News Page, and our HuffPost bloggers' Twitter feed, live from Denver.

[Colleen Gallion]

"Barack Obama Is Ready To Be President Of The United States"




I am honored to be here tonight to support Barack Obama. And to warm up the crowd for Joe Biden, though as you'll soon see, he doesn't need any help from me. I love Joe Biden, and America will too.

What a year we Democrats have had. The primary began with an all-star line up and came down to two remarkable Americans locked in a hard fought contest to the very end. The campaign generated so much heat it increased global warming.

In the end, my candidate didn't win. But I'm very proud of the campaign she ran: she never quit on the people she stood up for, on the changes she pushed for, on the future she wants for all our children. And I'm grateful for the chance Chelsea and I had to tell Americans about the person we know and love.

I'm not so grateful for the chance to speak in the wake of her magnificent address last night. But I'll do my best.


Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she'll do everything she can to elect Barack Obama.

That makes two of us.

Actually that makes 18 million of us - because, like Hillary, I want all of you who supported her to vote for Barack Obama in November.

Here's why.

Our nation is in trouble on two fronts: The American Dream is under siege at home, and America's leadership in the world has been weakened.

Middle class and low-income Americans are hurting, with incomes declining; job losses, poverty and inequality rising; mortgage foreclosures and credit card debt increasing; health care coverage disappearing; and a big spike in the cost of food, utilities, and gasoline.

Our position in the world has been weakened by too much unilateralism and too little cooperation; a perilous dependence on imported oil; a refusal to lead on global warming; a growing indebtedness and a dependence on foreign lenders; a severely burdened military; a backsliding on global non-proliferation and arms control agreements; and a failure to consistently use the power of diplomacy, from the Middle East to Africa to Latin America to Central and Eastern Europe.

Clearly, the job of the next President is to rebuild the American Dream and restore America's standing in the world.

Everything I learned in my eight years as President and in the work I've done since, in America and across the globe, has convinced me that Barack Obama is the man for this job.

He has a remarkable ability to inspire people, to raise our hopes and rally us to high purpose. He has the intelligence and curiosity every successful President needs. His policies on the economy, taxes, health care and energy are far superior to the Republican alternatives. He has shown a clear grasp of our foreign policy and national security challenges, and a firm commitment to repair our badly strained military. His family heritage and life experiences have given him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation and to restore our leadership in an ever more interdependent world. The long, hard primary tested and strengthened him. And in his first presidential decision, the selection of a running mate, he hit it out of the park.

With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama's proven understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national security leadership we need.

Barack Obama is ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world. Ready to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. Barack Obama is ready to be President of the United States.

He will work for an America with more partners and fewer adversaries. He will rebuild our frayed alliances and revitalize the international institutions which help to share the costs of the world's problems and to leverage our power and influence. He will put us back in the forefront of the world's fight to reduce nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and to stop global warming. He will continue and enhance our nation's global leadership in an area in which I am deeply involved, the fight against AIDS, TB and malaria, including a renewal of the battle against HIV/AIDS here at home. He will choose diplomacy first and military force as a last resort. But in a world troubled by terror; by trafficking in weapons, drugs and people; by human rights abuses; by other threats to our security, our interests, and our values, when he cannot convert adversaries into partners, he will stand up to them.

Barack Obama also will not allow the world's problems to obscure its opportunities. Everywhere, in rich and poor countries alike, hardworking people need good jobs; secure, affordable healthcare, food, and energy; quality education for their children; and economically beneficial ways to fight global warming. These challenges cry out for American ideas and American innovation. When Barack Obama unleashes them, America will save lives, win new allies, open new markets, and create new jobs for our people.

Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.

Look at the example the Republicans have set: American workers have given us consistently rising productivity. They've worked harder and produced more. What did they get in return? Declining wages, less than ¼ as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage. I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of? What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by unprecedented multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well connected? What about Katrina and cronyism?

America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will.

But first we have to elect him.

The choice is clear. The Republicans will nominate a good man who served our country heroically and suffered terribly in Vietnam. He loves our country every bit as much as we all do. As a Senator, he has shown his independence on several issues. But on the two great questions of this election, how to rebuild the American Dream and how to restore America's leadership in the world, he still embraces the extreme philosophy which has defined his party for more than 25 years, a philosophy we never had a real chance to see in action until 2001, when the Republicans finally gained control of both the White House and Congress. Then we saw what would happen to America if the policies they had talked about for decades were implemented.

They took us from record surpluses to an exploding national debt; from over 22 million new jobs down to 5 million; from an increase in working family incomes of $7,500 to a decline of more than $2,000; from almost 8 million Americans moving out of poverty to more than 5 and a half million falling into poverty - and millions more losing their health insurance.

Now, in spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities necessary to advance our security and restore our influence.

They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. Let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case, the third time is not the charm.

My fellow Democrats, sixteen years ago, you gave me the profound honor to lead our party to victory and to lead our nation to a new era of peace and broadly shared prosperity.

Together, we prevailed in a campaign in which the Republicans said I was too young and too inexperienced to be Commander-in-Chief. Sound familiar? It didn't work in 1992, because we were on the right side of history. And it won't work in 2008, because Barack Obama is on the right side of history.

His life is a 21st Century incarnation of the American Dream. His achievements are proof of our continuing progress toward the "more perfect union" of our founders' dreams. The values of freedom and equal opportunity which have given him his historic chance will drive him as president to give all Americans, regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or disability, their chance to build a decent life, and to show our humanity, as well as our strength, to the world.

We see that humanity, that strength, and our future in Barack and Michelle Obama and their beautiful children. We see them reinforced by the partnership with Joe Biden, his wife Jill, a dedicated teacher, and their family.

Barack Obama will lead us away from division and fear of the last eight years back to unity and hope. If, like me, you still believe America must always be a place called Hope, then join Hillary, Chelsea and me in making Senator Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

[Volitzer]

The Bilderberga-crats SUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!   

[Kristina]

GETTING PERSONAL WITH 75,000



DENVER — Barack Obama aims to weave the personal with the political Thursday as he explains to 75,000 supporters in a massive stadium _ and millions more at home _ how as president he would make a difference in their lives.

The sweep of history provided weight to words yet spoken: The previous evening Obama became the first black man to be a major political party's presidential candidate, and his acceptance of the Democratic nomination comes on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Obama's unique personal story was sure to be included in his acceptance address Thursday night. Still, he also planned to talk about problems facing Americans today, from health care and education to international threats, campaign manager David Plouffe said.

"I think what Sen. Obama wants to do is make sure everyone watching at home is going to have a clear sense of where he wants to take the country, that we're on the wrong path and Barack Obama is going to put us back on the right track both here at home and overseas," Plouffe told ABC's "Good Morning America."

John McCain, Obama's Republican rival, offered mild criticism ahead of Obama's speech, saying Thursday that he admires and respects Obama but "I don't think he's right for America."

"I think I'm more in touch with the American people as far as my policies, my proposals and my ideas," McCain told KDKA NewsRadio in Pittsburgh.

Other Republicans, keeping up a theme they first used when Obama drew tens of thousands for an appearance in Berlin, derided the acceptance speech's stage at Invesco Field at Mile High as befitting a celebrity with little actual accomplishment.

"This Roman-like facade, a facade with Roman columns, is a perfect metaphor or icon for the point that it's an interesting production, but behind it there's not much there," Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty told ABC.

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"My goodness, it's amazing that we're three days into the Democratic convention and 60 or so days from the actual election and they're still trying to plead with the American people and convince us that Barack Obama is ready to be president," said Pawlenty, who is widely thought to be a finalist for McCain's running mate. "The fact of the matter, he is not."

The drama of his long, emotional primary struggle against Hillary Rodham Clinton behind him at last, Obama's convention speech will propel him into a tough sprint to Election Day.

A modern-day technological effort was under way to get most of those packed into the stadium to form the world's largest phone bank _ text-messaging thousands more to boost voter registration for the fall.

Obama accepts his party's nod on a day few could ever imagine decades ago, when King fought for civil rights.

"This is a monumental moment in our nation's history," Martin Luther King III, the civil rights icon's oldest son, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "And it becomes obviously an even greater moment in November if he's elected."

Obama was just 2 years old when King addressed a sea of people on the National Mall in Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. The civil rights leader proclaimed on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, "I have a dream, that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed _ 'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.'"

Adding a touch of celebrity to the convention's final night, singers Sheryl Crow, Stevie Wonder and will.i.am were scheduled to perform, with Academy Award-winner Jennifer Hudson singing the national anthem.

After days of suspense over whether Clinton supporters would fall in line behind Obama when the roll call of the states was called, it all fell into place in the end for Obama.

Delegates in dozens of states were allowed to apportion their votes between Obama and the former first lady before Clinton herself stepped forward to propose that Obama be declared the nominee by acclamation.

Obama himself paid a late-night visit to the Pepsi Center, home for the first three nights of the convention, where he embraced Biden and implored the delegates to help him "take back America" in the fall campaign.

"Change in America doesn't start from the top down," he told the adoring crowd, "it starts from the bottom up."

Former President Clinton did his part to bring about unity too, delivering a strong pitch for the man who outmaneuvered his wife for the nomination, and going through a litany of GOP policies the former president said were hurting the country.

"My fellow Democrats, America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will do better than that," Clinton said.

Clinton and Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, who accepted the vice presidential nomination by acclamation Wednesday night, brought Democratic jabs at McCain and President Bush into prime time as Democrats sharpened their attacks after two days of largely feel-good rhetoric.

"These times require more than a good soldier. They require a wise leader," Biden said. "A leader who can change ... the change that everybody knows we need."

Biden's attacks on McCain were a big hit among delegates eager to put aside their intraparty squabble so they can start going after Republicans.

The reconciliation was taking place, delegate by delegate.

"I was a Clinton delegate," said Darlene Ewing, a delegate from Texas. "I'm an Obama person now."

[Kristina]

Clinton salutes Obama as Dems at convention cheer



DENVER — Hillary Rodham Clinton summoned the millions of voters who supported her in the primaries to send Barack Obama to the White House Tuesday night, and drew thunderous applause at the Democratic National Convention when she declared her one-time rival is "my candidate and he must be our president."

"We don't have a moment to lose or a vote to spare," said the former first lady, writing the final chapter in a quest for the White House every bit as pioneering as Obama's own.

The packed convention floor became a sea of white "Hillary" signs as the New York senator _ Obama's fiercest rival across 56 primaries and caucuses _ strode to the podium for her prime-time speech. The signs were soon replaced others that read simply, "Unity."

While her remarks included a full-throated endorsement of Obama, Clinton did not say whether she would have her name placed in nomination or seek a formal roll call of the states when the party's top prize is awarded by delegates on Wednesday night.

Clinton had been the prohibitive favorite for the nomination she launched her campaign last year, seeking to become the first female president. But she fell behind Obama after the leadoff Iowa caucuses in January, and he now is poised to become the first black nominee of a major party.

Obama turned the featured speaking slot of the convention's second night over to Clinton, hoping she could nudge her disenchanted supporters toward his candidacy.

He called her after her speech to express his appreciation, aides said.

She followed others to the podium who ripped into Republican McCain as indifferent to the working class and cozy with big oil.

'If he's the answer, then the question must be ridiculous," New York Gov. David Paterson said of the GOP presidential candidate.

Said Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, "It's time to bring our jobs back and bring our troops home."

"Call the roll!" urged Ted Sorensen, a party elder eager to propel Obama toward the White House.

Not yet.

Obama's formal nomination was set for Wednesday night. First came Clinton,

The convention hall was packed for her appearance, so much so that officials sealed the entrances.

Calling herself a "proud supporter of Obama, Clinton dismissed Republican John McCain with a few choice words.

"No way. No how. No McCain," she said as the hall erupted in cheers.

"We don't need four more years ... of the last eight years," she added.

Like other failed candidates at conventions past, Clinton recalled her own quest for the White House.

"You taught me so much, you made me laugh and ... you even made me cry," she said to supporters in the Pepsi Center and millions more watching on nationwide television.

"You allowed me to become part of your lives, and you became part of mine."

"I want you to ask yourselves, 'Were you in this campaign just for me?'" she asked.

Despite lingering unhappiness among some delegates nursing grievances over Clinton's loss, party chairman Howard Dean declared the convention determined to make Obama the nation's 44th president. "There is not a unity problem. If anyone doubts that, wait till you see Hillary Clinton's speech," he said.

In the convention keynote address, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner said Obama will "appeal to us not as Republicans or Democrats, but first and foremost as Americans." He added, "We need leaders who see our common ground as sacred ground."

In contrast to many of speeches delivered earlier in the day, out of prime time, Warner's remarks were more a sketch of the "post-partisan" possibilities that Obama often speaks of, rather than criticism of McCain and President Bush.

"I know we're at the Democratic National Convention, but if an idea works, it really doesn't matter if it has an 'R' or 'D' next to it," he said.

As keynoter, Warner's task was the same one that Obama _ then an Illinois state lawmaker running for the U.S. Senate _ used four years ago to launch his astonishing ascent in national politics.

Obama, 47 and in his first Senate term, campaigned in Missouri as he slowly made his way toward the convention city. Speaking to airline workers in a giant hangar, he accused the Bush administration of failing to enforce health and safety laws and said McCain "doesn't get it" when it comes to the concerns of blue collar workers.

There was more of the same _ much more _ as a parade of speakers criticized McCain at the convention several hundred miles away.

Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the Republican has voted against "real sex education, voted against affordable family planning. And if elected, John McCain has vowed to appoint Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade," she said, referring to the landmark 1973 case that affirmed women's right to abortion.

Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland focused on economic issues. "While families are losing sleep tonight trying to figure out some way to make their paycheck stretch through one more day, John McCain is sleeping better than ever," he said, recalling that McCain had recently said Americans were better off because of President Bush's policies.

And Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said oil companies were "placing their bets on John McCain, bankrolling his campaign and gambling with our future."

"John McCain offers four more years of the same Bush-Cheney policies that have failed us," summed up Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont.

Sorensen was a link to some of the party's glory years, John F. Kennedy's closest aide. As was the case with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's emotional appearance on the convention's opening night Monday, Sorensen's presence on the podium was designed to strengthen the image of Obama as Kennedy's worthy heir.

Obama delivers his acceptance speech Thursday night at a football stadium. An estimated 75,000 tickets have been distributed for the event, meant to stir additional comparisons with Kennedy's appearance at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960.

The Republican National Convention meets in St. Paul, Minn., next week to nominate McCain and his still-unnamed running mate. That will set the stage for a final sprint to Election Day in a race that is remarkably close.

Dean, the party chairman, said the Democrats' imperatives were "to make sure people know who Barack Obama is, who Joe Biden is."

Biden, a Delaware senator, is Obama's vice presidential pick, already making the rounds of the convention city.

Whatever tone the Democrats took, there was no mistaking McCain's intentions.

For the second time in three days, his campaign sought to use Clinton to wound Obama. This time it was a television commercial that made use of a memorable ad she ran in the primaries.

It shows sleeping children and a 3 a.m. phone call into the White House portending a crisis. In the new ad Clinton is shown saying: "I know Sen. McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And, Sen. Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."

A narrator adds: "Hillary's right. John McCain for president."

[Kristina]

John Kerry Rips Into McCain



***UPDATED WITH VIDEO AND FULL TEXT BELOW***

Those waiting to hear a more aggressive critique of John McCain at the Democratic National Convention need to tune in tonight for Sen. John Kerry.

In prepared remarks, the 2004 Democratic nominee pillories McCain with the strongest language yet uttered from the convention podium.

Kerry describes McCain as "insulting" and "desperate' for questioning Obama's patriotism, and "pathetic" for continuing to support President Bush's war policy; he digs at McCain's age, saying voters should elect a president based on judgment and character, not "years on this earth"; and he hammers McCain and Bush on foreign affairs, charging that their policies have left "Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and dictators everywhere...on the march."

"I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years," Kerry says at one point during a riff on the GOP nominee's flip-flops, "but every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain."

"Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself," Kerry charges. "Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being before it before you're against it."

Finally, Kerry ties McCain to the "fear and smear" tactics of Karl Rove, charging that his campaign has "nothing left but personal attacks."

Beyond the harsh criticisms, Kerry's speech also includes a great deal of praise for Barack Obama's character and record, and also a nod to the Massachusetts Senator's failed presidential run. "I will always remember how we stood together in 2004, not just in a campaign, but for a cause," he concludes. "Now again we stand together in the ranks, ready to fight."

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WATCH:


The full text as prepared for delivery:

Thank you so much. Four years ago, you gave me the honor of fighting our fight. I was proud to stand with you then, and I am proud to stand with you now, to help elect Barack Obama as President of the United States.
In 2004, we came so close to victory. We are even closer now, and let me tell you, this time we're going to win. Today, the call for change is more powerful than ever, and with more seats in Congress, with more people with more passion engaged in our politics, and with a President Obama, we stand on the brink of the greatest opportunity of our generation to move this country forward.

The stakes could not be higher, because we do know what a McCain administration would look like: just like the past, just like George Bush. And this country can't afford a third Bush term. Just think: John McCain voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time. Ninety percent of George Bush is just more than we can take.

Never in modern history has an administration squandered American power so recklessly. Never has strategy been so replaced by ideology. Never has extremism so crowded out common sense and fundamental American values. Never has short-term partisan politics so depleted the strength of America's bipartisan foreign policy.

George Bush, with John McCain at his side, promised to spread freedom but delivered the wrong war in the wrong place at the wrong time. They misread the threat and misled the country. Instead of freedom, it's Hamas, Hezbollah, the Taliban and dictators everywhere that are on the march. North Korea has more bombs, and Iran is defiantly chasing one.

Our mission is to restore America's influence and position in the world. We must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down Guantanamo, respect the Constitution, and make clear once and for all, the United States of America does not torture, not now, not ever.

We must listen and lead by example because even a nation as powerful as the United States needs some friends in this world. We need a leader who understands all our security challenges, not just bombs and guns, but global warming, global terror and global AIDS. And Barack Obama understands there is no way for America to be secure until we create clean energy here at home, not with a little more oil in five, 10 or 20 years, but with an energy revolution starting right now.

I have known and been friends with John McCain for almost 22 years. But every day now I learn something new about candidate McCain. To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let's compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain.

Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain's own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you're against it.

Let me tell you, before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself. And what's more, Senator McCain, who once railed against the smears of Karl Rove when he was the target, has morphed into candidate McCain who is using the same "Rove" tactics and the same "Rove" staff to repeat the same old politics of fear and smear. Well, not this year, not this time. The Rove-McCain tactics are old and outworn, and America will reject them in 2008.

So remember, when we choose a commander-in-chief this November, we are electing judgment and character, not years in the Senate or years on this earth. Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder, and listened better. And time and again, Barack Obama has been proven right.

When John McCain stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier just three months after 9/11 and proclaimed, "Next up, Baghdad!", Barack Obama saw, even then, "an occupation of "undetermined length, undetermined cost, undetermined consequences" that would "only fan the flames of the Middle East." Well, guess what? Mission accomplished.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When Barack Obama promised to honor the best traditions of both parties and talk to our enemies, John McCain scoffed. George Bush called it "the soft comfort of appeasement." But today, Bush's diplomats are doing exactly what Obama said: talking with Iran.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When democracy rolled out of Russia, and the tanks rolled into Georgia, we saw John McCain respond immediately with the outdated thinking of the Cold War. Barack Obama responded like a statesman of the 21st century.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? When we called for a timetable to make Iraqis stand up for Iraq and bring our heroes home, John McCain called it "cut and run." But today, even President Bush has seen the light. He and Prime Minister Maliki agree on - guess what? - a timetable.

So who can we trust to keep America safe? The McCain-Bush Republicans have been wrong again and again and again. And they know they will lose on the issues. So, the candidate who once promised a "contest of ideas," now has nothing left but personal attacks. How insulting to suggest that those who question the mission, question the troops. How pathetic to suggest that those who question a failed policy doubt America itself. How desperate to tell the son of a single mother who chose community service over money and privilege that he doesn't put America first.

No one can question Barack Obama's patriotism. Like all of us, he was taught what it means to be an American by his family: his grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line in World War II, his grandfather who marched in Patton's army, and his great uncle who enlisted in the army right out of high school at the height of the war. And on a spring day in 1945, he helped liberate one of the concentration camps at Buchenwald.

Ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama's uncle is here with us tonight. Please join me in saluting this American hero, Charlie Payne. Charlie, your nephew, Barack Obama, will end this politics of distortion and division. He will be a president who seeks not to perfect the lies of Swift boating, but to end them once and for all.

This election is a chance for America to tell the merchants of fear and division: you don't decide who loves this country; you don't decide who is a patriot; you don't decide whose service counts and whose doesn't.

Four years ago I said, and I say it again tonight, that the flag doesn't belong to any ideology. It doesn't belong to any political party. It is an enduring symbol of our nation, and it belongs to all the American people. After all, patriotism is not love of power or some cheap trick to win votes; patriotism is love of country.

Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us saying, "My country right or wrong." Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power.

This is one of those times, and Barack Obama is telling those truths.

In closing, let me say, I will always remember how we stood together in 2004, not just in a campaign, but for a cause. Now again we stand together in the ranks, ready to fight. The choice is clear; our cause is just; and now is our time to make Barack Obama the next President of the United States.

Thank you.

[Caitlin Cone-Hoskins]

Scenes from the floor: Obama surprises Dems Wednesday night
Posted: 11:00 PM ET

[Caitlin Cone-Hoskins]

[Jenna Bluehut]

THE SUPER BOWL OF SPEECHES





DENVER — Barack Obama promised an end to the "broken politics in Washington and the failed presidency of George W. Bush" Thursday night as he embarked on the final lap of his audacious bid to become the nation's first black president.

He vowed to cut taxes for nearly all working-class families, end the war in Iraq and break America's dependence on Mideast oil within a decade.

Obama belittled his Republican campaign rival, Sen. John McCain, by linking him to Bush.

"John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time," he said in excerpts released in advance of his prime time speech.

McCain countered with a bold move of his own, hoping to steal some of the political spotlight by spreading word that he had settled on a vice presidential running mate. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty canceled all scheduled appearances for the next two days, stoking speculation that he was the one.

Obama's campaign turned the Denver Broncos' Invesco Field into a costly sound stage for a final night extravaganza at the Democratic National Convention. A crowd expected to reach 75,000 filed into football stadium in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains hours before the speech.

In the speech excerpts, Obama pledged to jettison Bush's economic policy _ and replace it with his own designed to help hard-pressed families.

"I will cut taxes for 95 percent of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle class," he said.

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The excerpts didn't mention it, but Obama has called for raising taxes on upper-income Americans to help pay for expanded health care and other domestic programs.

He did not say precisely what he meant by breaking the country's dependence on Mideast oil, only that Washington has been talking about doing it for 30 years "and John McCain has been there for 26 of them."

His pledge to end the war in Iraq responsibly was straight from his daily campaign speeches.

"I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts. But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy that can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," he added.

As he does so often while campaigning, Obama also paid tribute to McCain's heroism _ the 72-year-old Arizona senator was a prisoner of war in Vietnam _ then assailed him.

"Sen. McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush was right more than 90 percent of the time?

By happenstance, the evening coincided with the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream Speech" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington.

"Tonight we are gathered here in this magnificent stadium in Denver because we still have a dream," said Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who marched with King, supported Obama's primary rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, then switched under pressure from younger black leaders in his home state and elsewhere.

Obama's aides were interested in a different historical parallel from King _ Obama was the first to deliver an outdoor convention acceptance speech since John F. Kennedy did so at the Los Angeles Coliseum in 1960.

The wrap-up to the party convention blended old-fashioned speechmaking, Hollywood-quality stagecraft and innovative, Internet age politics.

The list of entertainers ran to Sheryl Crow, Jennifer Hudson, the Academy Award winning performer singing the national anthem, and will.i.am, whose Web video built around Obama's "Yes, we can" rallying cry quickly went viral during last winter's primaries.

In a novel bid to extend the convention's reach, Obama's campaign decided to turn tens of thousands of partisans in the stands into instant political organizers.

They were encouraged to use their cell phones to send text messages to friends as well as to call thousands of unregistered voters from lists developed by the campaign.

In all, Obama's high command said it had identified 55 million unregistered voters across the country, about 8.1 million of them black, about 8 million Hispanic and 7.5 million between the ages of 18 and 24.

Those are key target groups for Obama as he bids to break into the all-white line of U.S. presidents and at the same time restore Democrats to the White House for the first time in eight years.

The Democratic man of the hour paid a brief visit to members of his home-state Illinois delegation before the curtain went up on his show. "I came by (because) I had this speech tonight. I wanted to practice it out on you guys. See if it worked on a friendly audience," he joked.

There was no joking about the stakes in the speech, a once-in-a-campaign opportunity to speak to millions of voters who have yet to make up their minds between McCain and him. The polls show a close race nationally, with more than enough battleground states tight enough to tip the election either way.

Obama's hopes of victory rely on holding onto the large Democratic base states such as California, New York, Michigan and his own Illinois, while eating into territory that voted for George W. Bush. Ohio tops that list, and Democrats have also targeted Montana, North Dakota, Virginia and New Mexico, among others, as they try to expand their Electoral College map.

His new running mate, Sen., Joseph Biden of Delaware, was brutally frank about the Democrats' chances in an appearance before one state's delegation. "This is not hyperbole: We cannot win without Pennsylvania," he said.

Polling shows the race for that state's 21 electoral votes close. Both the two previous Democratic candidates, Al Gore and John Kerry carried Pennsylvania over Bush.

Biden, who was born in Scranton, Pa., and represents a state that shares a border with Pennsylvania, is expected to spend large amounts of time campaigning in the state over the next several weeks.

McCain was in Ohio as Obama spoke, and after a series of sharply negative convention week television commercials, his campaign aired a one-night advertisement that complimented Obama and noted the speech occurred on the anniversary of King's famous address.

"Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, 'Congratulations,'" McCain says in the ad.

"How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight Senator, job well done."

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Governor Brian Schweitzer (D-MT)

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Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) Speaks to the DNC

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Former VA Gov. Mark Warner's DNC Speech

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TED KENNEDY TRIBUTE VIDEO: Denver Convention

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IDN4b58pTU&feature=user

TED KENNEDY: Historic Speech @ Denver Convention

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Michelle Obama at the 2008 DNC



Michelle Obama & Kids Talk To Barack In St. Louis